N331EL is a 2023 Robinson Helicopter R44 II. It is a rotorcraft with 4 seats, powered by a Lycoming IO-540-AE1A5 rated at 260 horsepower. The registration is active, with the registrant based in Nantucket, MA. Its standard airworthiness certificate was issued in Nov 2023. It has been registered to its current owner since Dec 2023. This page also carries 1 NTSB event.
- 3 years old
2023
That's everything on file so far — TailWiki checks the FAA registry daily and adds new entries as N331EL's record changes.
The pilot was practicing various flight profiles over a pond in his helicopter. After completing the first profile, he began a profile that included a normal takeoff, a 10-ft hover, an acceleration to 40 kts, a climb to 50 ft above ground level, then a return to a 10-ft hover. On the pilot’s second attempt at this maneuver, when decelerating and descending back down to a 10 ft hover, the helicopter descended too low. The front skids caught the water and the helicopter descended into the pond, substantially damaging the tail rotor assembly and the main rotor blades. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation. He also described that the weather and water conditions at the time of the accident were “calm and clear with no wind ripples on the water surface,” and that this produced a “mirroring effect” that hindered his depth perception.
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